Castlevania: The Alternate Ending
by RequiemxDreams
Summary: Let's say Leon did indeed defeat Walter Bernhard, and let's say that Walter was tricked into holding the Ebony Stone. But what if Mathias was not the real master of the fabled "Crimson Stone"? What if the true master was none other than Leon Belmont?


**Castlevania: Lament of Innocence **

_Let's say Leon did indeed defeat Walter Bernhard, and let's say that Walter was tricked into holding the Ebony Stone. But what if Mathias was not the real master of the fabled "Crimson Stone"? What if the true master was none other than Leon Belmont?_

_**Prelude **_

_**Rinaldo**__: Have you ever heard of the Philosopher's Stone?_

_**Leon**__: No, I haven't._

_**Rinaldo**__: Making the Philosopher's Stone is the ultimate goal of alchemy. It provides eternal youth. The two other stones were apparently created accidentally. No details of how they were made remain now._

_**Leon**__: I see. I know about the Ebony Stone, but what kind of power does the Crimson Stone have?_

_**Rinaldo**__: I don't know the details. It turns the souls of vampires into power for its master…_

_

* * *

_

"Welcome" said Walter with a smirk. His back slouched against his throne that reflected his place of power. "I have been waiting Leon."

Leon's eyes intensified with rage as he approached Walter. "Walter…I will never forgive you."

Lazily looking at his fingers before meeting Leon's gaze with a cool face, Walter replied, "I see…it seems you have enjoyed the gift that I gave you." He pointed to the glowing gauntlet and took note of the whip attached to Leon's belt. _'Pitiful fool,'_ Walter thought, _'he thinks he can use that useless whip on me…'_

Glancing at the enchanted gauntlet protecting his hand, Leon's fingers curled into a ball. "Yes, thank you for that, I now have the power to defeat you."

Walter suppressed his laughter and stood up from his seat. "Well that power…is quite something. But I am beloved by the Night." His eyes began to glow red; he smiled, "You will taste my powers."

Leon pulled out his whip and lashed it once to announce his readiness, "I'll kill you AND the night!"

The battle began as Leon rushed forward with the Vampire Killer at hand.

'_Let's see what the little mouse can do' _thought Walter as he patiently waited for Leon's first blow to fall. _'After all, it's best to let the little critter have a hit or two before he dies…'_

**CLANK!**

The arc of the whip made contact with the metallic breastplate.

"WHAT?" Walter's eyes widened as he doubled over in pain, a sensation he had not felt in a long time.

'_How could this be?' _Then he remembered the old man, and his promise. _'Rinaldo, I'll…'_

"Now, there's nothing left to protect you!" cried Leon. "I'll fulfill my promise to Sara now!"

Walter's eyes hardened as he regained his composure. With a deep voice, he retorted, "Not yet…"

Gesturing to the night sky behind the windows, he continued, "The power of the Night is still full. I shall teach you the true meaning of terror."

Black shapes began swirling underneath Leon's feet. Knowing the game too well from the castle's traps, Leon began back-flipping away at a frenzied pace. He leaped into the air and landed a clean hit on Walter's forearm. Distracted by the pain, Walter turned and grasped his wounded arm, only to give Leon an opening for a barrage of strikes. This made him angry. So Walter snapped his fingers and conjured flaming orbs to encircle him. These, along with the force of their explosions, blew Leon away and sent him crashing onto the floor, just yards away from where Walter stood.

Growling with rage, Leon brandished his whip into the air and sprinted across to Walter. Seeing the closure in distance, Walter turned himself into a mass of shadow and teleported behind Leon, summoning the fiery once again. Leon saw this and ducked from the blazing projectiles, covering his eyes with his gauntlet to shield himself from the blinding blast. He then turned and struck Walter on the neck with the whip, hitting his arm and breastplate afterwards. Walter grimaced from the smarting whip's contact, and quickly teleported himself again, this time directly behind Leon. With his hand charged with red aura, Walter punched Leon in the back again and again. Leon yelled from the beating and tried to break himself away. _'The Holy Water, I can use that!' _With that sudden thought, Leon quickly splashed the divine water onto Walter's face, temporarily blinding his opponent for a few seconds. In those few second, the Vampire Killer continuously made contact with the metallic breastplate, echoing metallic clangs throughout the entire chamber. Walter, finally having regained his sight, announced his final attack.

"Now I present my true form!"

Walter transfigured himself into an enormous demon-like bat with an orb in his mouth. Leon desperately tried to damage the bat's form, but the Vampire Killer seemed ineffective. Suddenly, the electrical sphere flew and expanded from Walter's mouth. As soon as it made contact with the ground, an explosion of great magnitude bombarded Leon's body, causing several cuts, bruises, and burns. Leon landed on the ground with a thud, moaning as he tried to get into his battle stance once more.

Walter stared at the struggling human and laughed, "Not even you can withstand my powers Leon!"

Then he continued to laugh, only to find Leon's body gone.

'_What?'_ Walter became nervous. The human, Leon, had been able to defeat all his minions and cause damage to him. If the previous attack did not stop him, nothing would. The final flood of the whip's volley behind him proved his thought's correct. Leon was the victor.

Gasping for air as blood trickled down his head, Walter stood in disbelief.

"It can't be…this should not have happened…"

A voice resonated from behind him, "Sara's suffering,…and Rinaldo's grief…Carve them into your cursed body and perish!"

"But…" Walter turned around to face Leon, "With my powers, I will surely come back to life…I could not obtain the Crimson Stone, but someday," He clenched his teeth, "It will be mine!"

After those words, an unearthly chill filled the room. The outline of a figure clad in tattered robes manifested from the dark.

"No!" Walter shouted. His eyes white with fear. It was Death!

"You betrayed me?"

Death cackled and drew his scythe. "I shall take your soul!"

The life force within Walter began to stream out as his soul was ripped from his body.

"Nooooooo….."

His last words died as Death harvested his soul.

Then, it was Leon's turn to be shocked. Another figure, a human-looking man, stepped out of the shadows. It was…

"Mathias!"

Mathias Cronqvist, Cronqvist the Wise. Leon's best and most trusted ally stood before Leon at the top of the podium. He sighed, "I never spent a better night."

Then he approached Leon. "You didn't disappoint me Leon, I knew without a doubt that you would accomplish this."

"Mathias," Leon continued as he struggled to find the right words. "What is the meaning of this?"

Mathias glanced nonchalantly at his friend as he turned to face Death. "I needed a powerful vampire's soul. That is all."

Leon took several steps forward toward him and gripped Mathias's left shoulder. "Are you saying you used me?"

Mathias shrugged Leon's hand off as if it were a filthy thing. "Not just you. Your betrothed, Sara, Rinaldo, and Walter…" Mathias circled Leon as he mentioned each victim. Then he stopped in front of Leon. "I used all of you. I never thought it would go so well though."

Leon caught the sight of a shiny, blood-colored gem on Mathias's necklace as it reflected the unnatural light that filled the room. Leon pointed at the object as he said, "Is that—that stone—the Crimson Stone?"

"Ah you know it?" Mathias looked down at the gem and began stroking it gently, as if it were his greatest treasure. "I'm impressed. I'm going to make Walter's soul mine through the power of this stone."

The Vampire Killer faintly glowed at Leon's belt. "I sense a rage from this whip…Mathias! You abandoned humanity?"

"That's right!" Mathias's eyes gleamed with an inhuman ferocity as they bored into Leon's soul. "By becoming a vampire, I obtained eternal life. That was my goal. It was my revenge against God!"

Leon was taken aback. _'What?' _

"Revenge against God?"

Nodding, Mathias replied, "We have risked our lives and fought for the sake of God... But God mercilessly stole away the one I loved most..." His eyes became clouded as he continued his speech. "When all I ever wished for was Elisabetha's safety… " Then he lifted a hateful gaze to the space above him, "if limited life is God's decree, then I shall defy it! And within that eternity," Mathias shook his fist with anger, "I shall curse Him forevermore!"

"Leon, after what you've been through, you should know…"

Leon lowered his gaze and closed his eyes as his thoughts spiraled chaotically in his mind. "Yes, you're right. I do understand how you feel…I too…"

"Then come with me!" interrupted Mathias, "I will give you eternity, too."

Instead of complying with Mathias's request, Leon stated the truth. "You wretched fool."

"What?"

Leon continued as Mathias stood dumbfounded. "Is this what the woman you loved would have wanted? The Mathias I know would not have loved such a woman."

It was Mathias's turn to turn his gaze downward. "Elisabetha was a kind honorable woman." He carefully continued his next line."She was concerned only for me to the very end... That is why I hate Him! Mathias's voice escalated to a bellow. "Am I wrong? Did you not defeat Walter with hatred in your heart, too?"

Leon turned away from his friend. "Yes. I'd be lying if I claimed otherwise."

Mathias sneered from winning the argument.

"But defeating him..." Leon continued, "No, preventing others from suffering the same cursed fate... That was Sara's dying wish... " Leon held his arms out in front of him with the palms faced up. "Granting my beloved's wish…that is all I can do to prove my love to Sara. Eternity without her…would be nothing but emptiness."

Mathias's initial smile turned into a frown. "Leon,…I thought that you would understand…Dawn is coming,…Farewell Leon." Then he turned to Death.

"Death, initiate the ritual."

"Yes master," replied Death as he raised the glowing orb in his hand.

"This power…I offer to the king who wields the Crimson Stone!"

Leon raced forward to knock Mathias out of the Alchemical circle. "Stop! No!"

But it was too late. The ritual was complete, and Mathias, Walter's former fleshling, had inherited Walter's powers to become the next King of the Night…or had he?

"T-this power…."

Leon supported Mathias as he staggered out of the circle. Suddenly, the stone on Mathias's necklace shattered into a million pieces as it broke away from it's previous owner.

That's when the stone chose it's own master. The soul that Mathias had received from Death itself, flew out of his body, along with his own. All of this power flew back into Death's hand, and the Crimson Stone reappeared in front of Leon's gauntlet. It stuck on fast and burned into his skin.

"W-what?"

Leon struggled to pull the cursed gem off himself before the curse could take effect. Before he could, the souls of the two late vampires flew straight into Leon, the _true_ wielder of the Crimson Stone.

_'Impossible!'_ thought Death, as he watched Leon's transformation take place. '_To think that he would be…'_

A bright red light signaled the end of the change as Leon collapsed onto the ground before him.

"No….this can't be happening…."

But the familiar hatred from the Vampire Killer proved otherwise. Leon Belmont had become the Lord of the Night. Death approached him and bowed down. "Master, I shall serve you and none other."

"Death," Leon started, "Please kill me, and take my soul…"

Death shook his head as he replied, "I cannot, the Crimson Stone has chosen you as its master, and therefore, it would be meaningless for me to take your life. You will always return as a phoenix does on its funeral pyre."

Leon remembered what Joachim had said. _"Those stones choose their own master…my power pales beside his…if only I had the Crimson Stone…"_

"What should I do?" cried Leon as he lamented the loss of his humanity. "I have become a cursed being, a vampire...the very monster that caused much misery to my fellow comrade Rinaldo and my betrothed…"

Death sat silently and awaited his master's command. He would follow Leon and do whatever was ordered, for as long as his master lived, he would too.

The whip's hatred began to fade into a mute sadness asit sensed Leon's mourning over what he had become, and what he had lost. After resolving his grief, Leon stood up and determinedly grasped the Vampire Killer. He proceeded to walk out the castle's multiple doors. "Come Death," commanded Leon, "We have work to do."

Death followed closely behind and leaned to Leon's ear, asking, "What shall you do Master?"

Leon's gaze fixed forward as he proceeded to exit the castle's dark realm. There was a familiar fire in his eyes like the vampires before him. Except this time, there was another kind of resolve to fuel their light. '_I must prevent others from suffering the same fate,' _thought Leon as he glanced down at the whip. _After all, it was my beloved's last wish…'_

"I have the power to destroy all related to vampires. This whip and my kinsmen will destroy them. From this day on, the Belmont clan will hunt the night."

As Leon walked through the main threshold of the stone castle, the building collapsed with a heavy rumbling. He flew away, seeking a better, darker place to rest from the coming dawn before continuing his hunt.

In the far distance was the gray-haired man Rinaldo, who stood about a mile away from the castle. He inhaled the air around him. "So, he did it."


End file.
